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PARALLELS BETWEEN ETHNOPHARMACEUTIC RESEARCH IN WILNO IN 1927 AND AT WORNIE IN 2007

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Abstract

The aim of the paper is to analyse and systematize the ethnopharmaceutic material collected during field research in the vicinity of the town of Wornie in Lithuania (the region of Samogitia) in 2007, and to make an assessment of ethnopharmaceutic heritage through a comparison of the results of that study with research conducted by Prof. J. Muszynski in the Wilno region at the beginning of the 20th century. The ethnopharmaceutic material collected in Samogitia has been systematized and compared with the results of J. Muszynski's study (the Latin names of plants being adjusted according to modern classification), with the ultimate aim of finding similarities and differences between the two studies. The study made in Samogitia in 2007 yielded a description of 119 species of medicinal plants, 2 species of fungi and 11 species of animals. In the 1927 study by Prof. J. Muszynski, conducted at the Wilno herbal market, 113 species of medicinal plants, 2 species of fungi and 3 species of animals were described. A juxtaposition of the research results has shown that 44 species of the same medicinal plants are mentioned in both studies. Among the total of 32 plant families mentioned in the two studies, 9 families occur in both studies, of which 4 families are predominant with respect to number of plants species mentioned - these are the Asteraceae, Lamiaceae, Rosaceae and Ericaceae families. Both the 1927 and the 2007 studies found that herbal remedies were used most frequently for treating diseases of the alimentary canal (29% and 22% respectively, of all the medicinal plants mentioned in the studies). The second most numerous group of medicinal plants included plants used for treating diseases of the respiratory tract (13% and 20% respectively), while the third most frequent group was that of plants used for diseases of the kidneys and urinary tract, with that group constituting 10% of plants mentioned in both studies. Similarities between the studies were also found concerning the fungus and animal species used for medicinal purposes. The parallels that appeared in the two studies make it possible to conclude that the foundations of folk medicine are resistant to changes in time and environment

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